Mail-conveyer.



VNo. 888,087. i 'PATENTE' MAR. 24, 1808.

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MAIL- GONVBYER.'

APrLIvcATIoN FILED 8818.111907.

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No. 883,067.. PATENTED MAR. 24,1908'.

F. E. WOLKEN. MAIL ooNvBYER.

APPLICATION FILED 411311.11. 1907.

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Tnt Nomus PETERS CO. wAsHmcroN, v. c,

vNo. 883,067.

P. E. WoLKEN.

PATENTED MAR. 24, 1908.

`MAILl CONVEYER. urmculon FILED 23.17, 1907.

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519i h1 una 3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

3 wmntofc FOLKERT EDWARD WOLKiEN, OF DILLER, NEBRASKA,

MAIL-CONVEYER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 24, 1908.

Application filed April 17, 1907. Serial No. 368,660.

To all whom itmay concern.'

Be it known that I, FOLKERT EDWARD VVOLKEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Diller', in the county of Jefferson, State of Nebraska, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mail-Conveyers; and l do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will.enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to mail conveyers and more particularly to that class in which a mail receptacle or box is caused to travel along a track wire from one point to another, the conveyer being designed specically for use on rural free delivery routes where it is desired to convey mail from a point adjacent the road-way to the house in which the mail is to be delivered, and also from the house to the road terminal of the track wire.

The object of the invention is to generally improve and simplify the construction of such devices as now in use and one of the specific objects of the invention is to provide means whereby the track wire may be connected taut at all times and also to provide a novel form of carrier and box.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view in elevation showing the house and road terminals of the carrier and also one of the intermediate posts between the said terminals, the carrier or receptacle being shown at a point adjacent said intermediate posts, Fig. 2 is a detail view in side elevation of the house terminal, Fig. is a similar view of the road terminal showing the box at the limit of its movement in the direction of this terminal, Fig. 4 is a plan. view of the house terminal, Fig. 5 is a side elevation in detail of the carrier and receptacle,-Fig. 6 is a similar view of the carrier with the receptacle removed, Fig. 7 is a detail transverse sectional view through the carrier and the receptacle, and, Fig. 8 is a detail view of the intermediate posts shown in Fig. 1.

In the drawings the house terminal is indicated in general by the reference character A and the road terminal in general by the reference' character B.

The house terminal of the carrier system consists of a frame comprised of u rights 10 which are connected in pairs by sills 11 and rotatably mounted in suitable bearings upon the said sills is a shaft 12 carrying a grooved pulley 13 and a sprocket gear 14 which is intergeared by means of achain 15 with a similar gear 16 upon a shaft 17 which latter is journaled also in bearings upon the side sills 1 1 but rearwardly of the shaft 12. A crank handle 18 is carried by the shaft 17 yat one end thereof and it will be understood that rotation of this shaft 1.7 through the instrumentality of the crank handle, will result in a rotation of the shaft 12 and the pulley 13 carried thereby. In order to render the utility of the grooved pulley 13 apparent, further description of the house terminal will be omitted for the present and a ortion of the road terminal will be described? The road terminal com rises a pair of uprights one of which is in( icated by the numeral 19 and the other by the numeral 20, the upright 2O being of less height than the upright 19. J ournaled between the uprights 19 and 20 and at a point adjacent the upper end of the upright 20 is a grooved pulley 21 and over this pulley and grooved pulley 13 at the house terminal is passed an endless wire cable 22 it being understood that when the pulley 13 is rotated this cable will be caused to travel in one direction or the other according to the direction of rotation of the crank handle 18.

J ournaled at the upper end of the rear u rights 1() of the frame of the house termina is a winding shaft 23 which has connected with it a crank handle 24 and which carries a ratchet 25 with which a pawl 26 cooperates, the purpose of the pawl and ratchet being to hold the shaft after it has been rotated to the desired degree. Secured at one of its ends to this shaft is a track Wire 27 which extends from the shaft, to the road terminal of the carrier and is secured at this point inamanner to be presently described. It will be observed that the shaft 23 may be turned to take up any slack inthe track wire and consequently the said wire may be kept taut at all times and the device thereby rendered more efficient.

One of the intermediate posts will now be described. The post proper is indicated by the numeral 28 and secured to the post and extending upwardly and laterally therefrom is a bracket 29 which has its u per end portion extended directly vertica ly as at 30.

The track wire 27 is passed directly over the` upper edge of this ortion 3() and is held thereon by means of an inverted U-shaped sheet metal clip 31 which is riveted as at 32 to the said portion 30 it being understood that this clip is of such thickness as to not interfere with the passage ol: a pulley over the wire and clip. An arm 33 extends outwardly 'from the post 28 in the same direction as does the bracket 29 and secured to the outer end of this arm 33 is one end 34 of a guide which is formed of a length of strap iron which is secured as stated at one ot its ends and is thence bent upwardly and outwardly as at 35 and-thence back upon itself and downwardly as at 36 in an inclined direction. rlhe iron is then bent upwardly in the Y direction of the post 28 as at 37 and secured thereto it being understood that a V-shaped guide is formed, the apex of which coincides with a similarly formed notch 3S in the arm and substantially with the groove in a grooved l pulley 39 which is journaled in the said.

notch 38 and over which pulley passes the upper stretch of the cable 22. A pulley 40 is mounted upon the post 28 in a lane beneath the ulley 39 and over this pu ley 40 passes the ower stretch of the cable 22.

The carrier lor the receptacle comprises a hollow U-shaped trame 4l which is prefer- 3 one end of a bar 44 which is bent at right angles as at to extend to one side of the said bars 42 and this portion 45 of each ol` the bars 44 is riveted as at 46 to a box 47vwhich, while it may be of any desired. form, is here shown as cylindrical and is provided with a door 4S which may be opened to ermit of the introduction and. removal of mail matter. A clip 49 is secured upon the lower member of the U-shaped `frame 4l and serves to connect the upper stretch of the cable 22 with the said frame whereby, when the cable travels, the frame and box supportedv thereby will also travel and in a corresponding direction. y

In order to stop the travel of the frame, and the receptacle carried thereby when the same has reached the road terminal, there is secured upon the post 19 ot this terminal an arm 50 which extends laterally from the post and has secured to it the ,corresponding` end of the track wire 27 and is provided with a resilient portion 51 in position to frictionally engage the upper end of the adjacent bar 42 when the 'frame has reached the road terminal and bring the same to a stop it being understood that this frictional ei'igagemont of the member 51 prevents a sudden stopping oic the frame and consequently obviates injury to the cable or to the frame such as would be caused by sudden stoppage.

What is claimed 1s*- A mail transporting system comprising a driven shalt, a pulley carried by the shaft, a-

terminal post, a pulley journaled upon the post, a cable engaged around the pulleys, a track wire extending above vthe upper stretch ol' the cable, means whereby the track wire may be tightened, a frame, pulleys mounted in the frame and designed fori-1` travel upon the track wire, the frame having connection with the upper stretch of the cable, a mail receptacle carried by the frame, and a bracket carried by the terminal post and having a curved resilient portion which is adaptedto frictionally engage a portion of the frame when the same reaches the terminal.

ln testimony whereof, 'I affix my signature, in presence oll two witnesses.

FOLKER'I EDWARD WOLKEN.

Vitnesses:

FRANK T, PEARCE, JOHN D. TOLLENAAR. 

